This week I watched a PBS show about The Algebra Project which was started by Robert Moses. Moses’ basis is so central to what we have been learning in this class the last several weeks. He states that:
1.) American children are entitled to free public education, from
kindergarten through twelfth grade
2.) All children can learn
3.) All children deserve the best education they can receive
His project has a ‘learning by doing’ premise which is generated by having the students tutor their peer and begin looking at their world more critically. He was a central figure in the Civil Rights movement as a young man and understands what it means to have to fight for your rights. As we are aware, getting resources to poor and minority students will happen only when the communities (and students) demand it. A central vein of the Project is to get the students to demand their own education. The message to students has to be very clear. You might not want to go to college now but you have to prepare yourself for when you are ready to go. Students are made aware that the fastest growing jobs in their generation require at least a bachelors degree. The Information Age is requiring students to be versed in advanced mathematics, this is the future of our students. I found this web site about The Algebra Project that has some excellent information:
http://www.learntoquestion.com/seevak/groups/2001/sites/moses/ap/principles-page2.htm
I also watched the Rachel Marrow Show about the Tea Party Movement and literacy. Again, I am going to sound like I do not have a compassionate bone in my body but...I just don’t get the comparison. Rachel Morrow is talking about literacy tests from the 1960’s and how they were skewed so blacks could not vote, I get that. That is a historical fact that, as a nation we should be ashamed of. But, how she compares that to the fact that in this country now we have many people who are voting and have no idea of our countries history and do not speak English...I don’t get it. There is no comparison. In the 1960’s black people were victims of discrimination, but they could read and write. Granted the questions on the ‘literacy test’ were absurd and no one could answer them, but at least they could read them. I have stated many times that I was not born here, my parents became citizens only after they mastered the language and understood the culture. I am not sure where I stand and ethically this is a hard call, but as a history teacher, I firmly believe that you need to understand where you came from in order to move forward. Perhaps a literacy test is not necessary, can we give a history test instead?
History tests would still only perpetuate the undeniable institutionalized racism that still exists today. As we have discussed during this class, we need to be critical of those who hold the power. So, who would make these proposed tests? Would they be biased and provide skewed results like the tests of the 1960’s and high-stakes educational tests of today? We have learned, read, and discussed the fact that our educational system is still oversaturated with isms, specifically racism. It is a fact- minority children do not receive the education they have a right to. So, we penalize them when it comes time to vote? We continue to throw in their face that the country has not provided them what they have a right to? If we have a hard enough time constructing school exams that do not perpetuate the evidence of racism, how will we ever be able to impose tests at the ballot? And, furthermore, what about those who are in office? I bet many of them would not come close to passing a test. Let us not forget Sarah Palin’s infamous account of Paul Revere. Perhaps it is not our voting system that is flawed. Rather it is our educational system that denies an equal education to ALL. If we were ALL to have an equal education, we would not need tests at the ballot to point out that we have been failed.
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